


Impressions

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 08:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17220572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Tumbler wants to know how Skittery feels about Sarah Jacobs





	Impressions

“Hey Skits? Skits? Skiiiiiitery??” Tumbler was sitting at the edge of Skittery’s bed, waiting for him to finish reading the day’s paper. It was something he did every night after work. It was boring as hell to watch, but Tumbler knew well enough by now that Skittery wasn’t going to play with him until he’d finished.

“Skittery, Skittery, Skit Skit Skitery, Skiiiit. Teeeeeeer. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,” Tumbler continued, making up a song out of the syllables to entertain himself. “Skiter ri ri ri! Skiter ra ra ra! Skiterdy dittory do do do, da da da, la la la la la la Skittery!”

That got Skittery’s attention. He looked up over his paper at Tumbler, who had gotten quite involved in his little tune, and was even making up a dance to accompany it. “You better be careful,” Skittery warned. “Or you’re gonna fall off the bunk, flailing around like that. Ain’t you got nothing better to do?”

“You'se been reading the same page for two hours,” whined Tumbler.

“We ain’t been home more than twenty minutes.”

“Two hours! When’re you gonna change the page, huh Skittery? I ain’t getting any younger over here.”

“Good. If you got any younger, you’d be the size of a bean, and we’d lose you,” Skittery muttered, but he did change the page.

“That ain’t so. I’ve seen babies before, Skittery. If I got any younger, I’d be a baby, and you’d have to carry me everywhere.” Tumbler flopped down on the bed, so he could look at the newspaper with Skittery. He could read four words: blood, violent, strike and the. He scanned the paper for these words.

“Things go differently for orphans,” Skittery explained. “First of all, we start out as beans. Then, if nobody eats us, we shed our bean skins and turn into spiders. Next, if nobody stomps on us, we turn into mice. Finally, if we don’t get gobbled up by a cat, we change to dirty little boys that no one wants. Some of us even go on to be grown ups. A whole bunch of scientists wrote about it, right here. That’s what I’m reading about.”

“Oh.” Tumbler snuggled up to Skittery. His brow furrowed, as he tried to remember what it’s felt like to be a mouse. “Is that why I like cheese so much?”

“Yeah. That’s your mouse memory.”

“That means the Jacobs kids was never spiders or mouses, on account of how they’ve got parents. Is that why you like Sarah Jacobs so much?”

Tumbler had barely finished speaking when Skittery tried to smother his words with the newspaper. Tumbler socked him in the jaw.

“What the hell, Tumbs?” Skittery rubbed the spot where Tumbler had hit him. “You don’t get to go around hitting me, and you don’t get to go around blabbing about things I told you in confidence. Got it?”

Tumbler rolled his eyes. Skittery was so weird sometimes.

“But you love…” Tumbler started out, but Skittery gave him such a glare that he shut his trap right away.

“Reading the paper,” Skittery finished. “I love getting home, and having a couple minutes to myself to read the paper, after I spend the whole day selling the damn things.”


End file.
